A Running Guide to Mother’s Day Brunch, Sweets, and Dinner Specials Around D.C.

Last Mother’s Day, stay-at-home orders forced local restaurants to rely solely on takeout orders. This year, with COVID-19 restrictions loosening and vaccinations on the rise, Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 9) is full of options. Here are dozens of ideas for Mother’s Day plans, whether that’s brunch or dinner out, a takeout meal, or something sweet.

Brunch (dine in or to go)

AhSo: Chef Jason Maddens is serving a special brunch with cocktails at his fine dining place in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Annabelle: Try Chef Frank Ruta’s spring pea risotto, Pennsylvania-raised rabbit pâte, and asparagus tart as part of the $60 three-course brunch menu at Annabelle on Mother’s Day. Takeout is also available.

Blend 111: In Vienna, the Latin-leaning cafe and wine bar is offering a $55-per person three-course prix fixe brunch with dishes like torrijas (french toast with guava) and marquesa, a chocolate Venezuelan pie.

Blue Duck Tavern: Reserve a table for a three-course a la carte Mother’s Day brunch menu at the West End hotel restaurant, priced at $110 per person or $55 for children ages six to 12. Courses include wood-oven roasted bone marrow and “Blue Duck Tavern Benedict” with pork belly, poached egg, Aleppo pepper hollandaise, pickled vegetables, jalapeño and cilantro on a soft roll.

Bombay Club: The downtown Indian restaurant’s Champagne brunch with live piano music is $50 per person on Mother’s Day, offering dishes like chicken pista korma, eggs kejriwal, and chocolate sticky pudding. Takeout options are available as well.

Donahue: The new, Champagne-focused Georgetown cocktail bar is offering a free glass of bubbly for every mom in attendance at a Mother’s Day brunch. Choose between 12 dishes on the menu, including burrata with spring peas and pea foam.

Equinox: Todd Gray’s downtown restaurant is serving MOMosas at a special Mother’s Day version of his popular brunch.

Immigrant Food: Mother’s Day brunch at the downtown restaurant includes a special from chef Mile Montezuma called the “Empowered Croque Madame” that adds pastrami and mushrooms to the Swiss cheese, bechamel, and egg sandwich.

Jackie: At Navy Yard’s new American bistro, find a $55-per-person prix-fixe brunch from chef Jerome Grant that includes pastries, an entree, and a bottle of bubbly.

Lebanese Taverna: Fattoush, shawarma, and pulled lamb are all part of a Mother’s Day Bottomless Mezza Brunch for $39 per person at location in Woodley Park, Arlington, McLean, and Baltimore.

NaRa-Ya: Mother’s Day brunch ($55 per person, indoors only) at the new Japanese tasting room at the Wharf includes omurice (jidori omelet over vegetable fried rice), savory okonomiyaki pancakes with pork belly, and milk bread French toast with matcha whipped cream.

Nicoletta Italian Kitchen: The laidback Mother’s Day brunch menu in Mt. Vernon Triangle includes the likes of baked eggs, pizzas, spaghetti pomodoro, and unlimited mimosas, bellinis, or Bloody Marys.

Osteria Morini: Priced at $55 per diner, the Navy Yard Italian restaurant’s Mother’s Day three-course brunch includes options like truffle frittatas and ricotta pancakes.

Rasika: Brunch on Mother’s Day at the original location in Penn Quarter includes three courses of dishes like masala scrambled eggs with curry hollandaise and saffron bread butter pudding. The meal is $55, and takeout options are available.

Shilling Canning Company: A family-style feast at the Mid-Atlantic restaurant in Navy Yard starts at 11 a.m. with dishes like ham and cheese quiche to start; Maryland crab imperial with duchess potatoes, and individual strawberry shortcakes for dessert. Pick up gifts for mom at the restaurant’s wine shop, which is partnering up with Virginia florist Farida Floral.

Brunch (takeout)

Baker’s Daughter: Chef Matt Baker put together a Mother’s Day breakfast in bed for two for $65. Choose between options like cold-pressed juice, coffee, breakfast taquitos, shakshuka, avocado toast, and steak and eggs with whipped polenta.

Colada Shop: The Cuban cafe will offer a Mother’s Day package ($60) on its Tock page that comes with six flower-shaped guava pastelitos, four empanadas (bacon, egg, and cheese, or spinach and cheese), four croquetas (ham or spring onion and zucchini), coconut oat and quinoa pudding with pineapple compote, and a bottle of Cava with fresh juice.

Fare Well: Take home brunch pastries from the H Street vegan diner with options like croissants, raspberry kouign-amann, and a take-and-bake berry pudding. Pre-order by May 5.

Feast: Nina May’s meal delivery kit service will ship out a Mother’s Day box on Friday, May 7 and Saturday, May 8. The $100 menu is meant for two and includes dishes like Maryland jumbo lump crab cakes with remoulade, a spring salad, and apricot vinaigrette along with a strawberry rhubarb pound cake.

Neighborhood Provisions: The delivery service from the huge restaurant group behind Iron Gate, Evening Star Cafe, and plenty of other local favorites is offering a special selection of brunch items for Mother’s Day, including pancakes, quiches, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls (sold a la carte or in kits). Add on gifts like wine, flowers, and candles.

Rose’s At Home: Creme fraiche and poppy seed muffins; smoked salmon salad with everything bagel spice; and cheesecake with mixed berries all make the extravagant $150 Mother’s Day brunch for two at Rose’s Luxury’s delivery service.

Dinner (dine in or to go)

Bresca: Ryan Ratino’s Michelin-starred bistro on 14th Street NW is accepting reservations for a family-style meal ($95 per person) from 11:30 a.m. through dinner.

Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab: In addition to its full service dinner, on Saturday, May 8 and Sunday, May 9, the seafood restaurant will offer a “Classics” carryout dinner ($349.95 for four) complete with lobster tails and key lime pie.

La Vie: The scene-y Mediterranean restaurant at the Wharf offers a three-course prix fixe from chef Juan Rivera with highlights like roasted lamb kleftico with garlic yogurt and salty Greek kefalograviera cheese, lobster risotto, or black truffle mac and cheese.

Lebanese Taverna: Pick up a $99 carryout Mother’s Day mezza feast for four, featuring items like salmon harra and mixed grill kabobs. Add on more diners for $20 per person.

Mia’s Italian Kitchen: In addition to dining in at this Old Town spot, there’s a take-and-bake meal featuring prime short rib lasagna, tiramisu and more. The takeout meal serves two people for $69 and four people for $99.

Modena: The downtown Italian restaurant is serving multi-course meals for lunch and dinner on Mother’s Day, either in the dining room or for pickup. Courses include tortellini in brodo, potato gnocchi, fried artichokes, and dark chocolate mousse.

Mon Ami Gabi Bethesda: A four-course dinner is available for pickup or dine-in, including halibut with green peppercorn broccolini and funfetti macarons for desert. The dinner costs $68 per person.

Morton’s: The Mother’s Day menu for dining-in at Morton’s The Steakhouse involves “steak & lobster Oscar” for $59. Meanwhile, there’s an at-home pickup option: a dinner for two with filet mignon, lobster tails, sides, and a bottle of wine for $179.

Napoli Past Bar/Napoli Salumeria: The Italian restaurant and deli in Arlington will offer Mother’s Day reservations in its dining room, in addition to a four-course, “ready to cook” meal with ravioli with buratta, rack of lamb or branzino, and a choice of gelato or sorbetto from Dolci Gelato. The takeout meal is $98 for two diners, and it’s also available for four or six diners.

NaRa-Ya: The indoor-only Japanese tasting room at the Wharf has a five-course prix fixe ($95 per person) that includes a complimentary Champagne toast. Dishes include miso brown butter lobster tail, NaRa-Ya’s sushi and sashimi platter, matcha-misu ladyfingers, and more.

Rasika West End: The three-course Mother’s Day menu is priced at $55 per person with dishes like Parsi lamb patties, homestyle chicken curry, and masala chai cheesecake. Takeout is also available.

RPM Italian: In addition to dining-in reservations indoors and on the patio, RPM is putting together a $175 Mother’s Day to-go feast for four. That meal include Giuliana’s Italian salad, rigatoni, parmesan-crusted chicken piccata, spicy broccolini, and tiramisu.

Sushi Gakyu: The sushi spot downtown is offering Japanese dishes for pickup for Mother’s Day.

TTT: Both Silver Spring and Clarendon locations will offer family-style Mother’s Day takeout meals priced at $60 for two, with tacos, sides, and to-go cocktails.

The Majestic: Seared salmon with lemon-dill vinaigrette and angel food cake with macerated berries are options on the special Mother’s Day takeout meal menu. The multi-course meal to go is $79 for two and $139 for four.

Trummer’s: Tempura soft shell crab, chilled strawberry gazpacho, and Basque-style cheesecake are among the options included in a Mother’s Day three-course meal at the Fairfax restaurant. Priced at $68 per person or $25 per child for dining-in, an abbreviated menu is also available for takeout. The three-course menu is priced at $120 for two people or $240 for four people.

Dinner (tasting menus)

El Cielo: The modernist Colombian restaurant in La Cosecha market will offer its 22-course “experience menu” ($195 per person) Friday, May 7, through Sunday, May 9, from noon until close.

Jônt: Ryan Ratino’s two Michelin-starred chef’s counter will offer a 16-course meal for Mother’s Day at $295 per person.

Xiquet DL: The newly Michelin-starred Spanish restaurant is celebrating with a five-course Mother’s Day tasting menu available for in-person dining at $150 per person. A four-course option is available to-go at $80 per person.

Afternoon tea

Fairmont Washington, DC: On Mother’s Day weekend, the Georgetown hotel is hosting a Royal Afternoon Tea in its Queen of Hearts Lounge on the ninth floor. The $65-per-person menu includes savory sandwiches like coronation chicken salad and sweets like chocolate biscuit cake, with the opportunity to add sparkling wine or champagne.

Mon Ami Gabi Bethesda: Order a trio of Harney & Sons teas at the Bethesda Row restaurant’s Mother’s Day High Tea package to-go, priced at $50 per person and $24.95 per child.

Dine-in day trips

Field & Main: The farm-to-table restaurant in Marshall, Virginia is serving Mother’s Day brunch inside and in its outdoor heated cabanas.

Salamander Resort & Spa: Head to Middleburg’s luxurious resort for a family-style brunch with brioche French toast and more at Harrimans Virginia Piedmont Grill. That meal is $125 per adult and $45 per child. Salamander is also offering a $250-per-guest fireside Mother’s Day dinner in its library, with five-courses including roasted foie gras and wild blueberry fritters.

The Vineyards & Winery at Lost Creek: The Leesburg winery is throwing a four-course brunch with wine tasting for $65 per person.

Sweets

Sticky Fingers’ vegan cookies and brownies

Immigrant Food: As part of NGO partner Asylum Works “Gift of Goodness” for Mother’s Day, Immigrant Food is selling reusable tins filled with alfajores (sandwich cookies with dulce de leche and rolled in coconut flakes). Proceeds support asylum seekers, connecting them with trauma-informed social services, employment assistance, and more.

Georgetown Cupcake: Starting May 1, the classic sweets shop is selling a $43 collection of a dozen cupcakes sold in a pink heart-shaped box for the holiday.

Sticky Fingers: The vegan bakery in Columbia Heights is shipping out Mother’s Day cookie and brownie gift packs and more (including a brunch kit with pancake mix, shortbread, and aprons for mother and child).

Write a mom a letter

Dirty Habit: For those who can’t be with their mothers this year, Dirty Habit is offering to mail letters back home. The Penn Quarter restaurant’s courtyard will be dressed up in pink thanks to Chateau de Berne “Inspiration and Emotion” rosé wines, and outfitted with pads of paper for guests to write Mother’s Day greetings.